Quincy mother indicted on prostitution charges

A Quincy woman has been indicted on charges she and two business partners used massage parlors as fronts for prostitution and human trafficking.

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Writer

Posted Jan. 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 25, 2013 at 7:57 AM

Posted Jan. 25, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 25, 2013 at 7:57 AM

BOSTON

» Social News

A Quincy mother of two faces charges that she was a madam at a Wellesley massage parlor that was actually a brothel.

A grand jury on Thursday handed up indictments charging Zhen Lai, 37, and two business partners with using massage parlors as fronts for prostitution and human trafficking.

Lai, along with Joseph Girouard, 55, of Revere and Wenjie Dong, 49, of Malden ran two massage parlors, one in Wellesley and the other in Revere. Each is charged with trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, conspiracy, deriving support from prostitution and keeping a house of ill fame.

State Police arrested the trio in October after working with Homeland Security and immigration agents, along with Wellesley police, on information that Sun Spa, also known as Sun Studio, in Wellesley and Bodywork in Revere were actually brothels.

All three entered innocent pleas at their arraignments in October and were released on bail. They will be arraigned on the new charges in Norfolk Superior Court at a later date.

During her arraignment in Dedham District Court in October, prosecutors said Lai passed herself off as the manager of the massage parlor in Wellesley, but she was actually a madam, arranging appointments for illicit sex and transportation for the Asian women who performed it.

Assistant Attorney General Patrick Hanley said Lai paid the workers and arranged to transport them from New York and other places to Boston. Hanley said Lai also set up appointments for male customers.

He added that Lai has an open case out of Malden on a charge of sex for a fee.

Lai required an interpreter during her earlier court appearance. She is a native of Vietnam and a citizen of China, court documents say. Hanley said in October that Lai’s immigration status is not entirely clear, though an arrest report indicates she has been granted green-card status.

Her court-appointed attorney, Larry Tipton, said she has two young children and that she was “eager to get home to them.”

Lai lives in an apartment at 46 Freeman St., a drab-looking multi-family building in North Quincy that city inspectors have raided in the past for overcrowding and illegal units.